Throwing the ball in BJP’s court over the controversy surrounding the appointment of P.J. Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), senior government officials on Tuesday said that the NDA government itself did nothing when it was in power on sanctioning prosecution against Mr Thomas as they could find nothing against him.
Hitting out at the BJP, the sources said that the matter was pending before the NDA government for five years and no sanction for prosecution against Mr Thomas was granted then. “But the NDA government did not act on it and this indicated that the government did not consider it fit for granting sanction,” the sources said. A senior government official said that the BJP must explain first as to why its own government did not give the sanction. “Let them answer that question first,” said the official.
Government sources said the first request for grant of sanction for prosecution of Mr Thomas in a corruption case in Kerala came to the Central government on December 31, 1999 and it was valid till the last day of the NDA government on May 21, 2004.
The Central vigilance commission on two occasions gave clearance for the appointment of Mr Thomas as a secretary in the government, probably finding nothing against him.